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Across Baltic From Trump-Putin Summit, NATO Troops Train for Battle

by Henry Ridgwell

   TAPA, ESTONIA --

   It would take less than three hours by tank from the Russian border
   across the flat Baltic grasslands and birch forests to reach the Tapa
   military base in Estonia.

   Once a Soviet army base and airfield, Tapa now hosts a thousand-strong
   NATO force, made up of 800 British troops and 200 Danish soldiers,
   alongside tanks, armored vehicles and artillery.

   The NATO troops are officially part of the alliance's Enhanced Forward
   Presence program, agreed to in 2016 and aimed at deterring any Russian
   incursions into the Baltic states. Informally, their presence is often
   referred to as a 'tripwire' force: Any engagement from Russia would
   trigger a full NATO intervention to defend Estonia. U.S. forces are
   deployed in a similar role in Poland, and there are further battle
   groups stationed in Latvia and Lithuania.

   WATCH: Across Baltic From Trump-Putin Summit, NATO Troops Train for
   Battle

   VOA joined troops from Britain's 1st Battalion Yorkshire Regiment as
   they began a six-month tour at Tapa earlier this month.

   "We're here to deliver against NATO's core business, which is
   collective defense. We're here defensively, but we're here to fight and
   defend should the need arise," said commanding officer Lt. Col. Jim
   Kennedy.

   Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine
   rattled NATO member states, and Estonia has welcomed the deployment.

   "The Estonians have spent a huge amount of money, above and beyond
   their own defense budget, to enable this NATO deployment," Kennedy
   said. "So, we've got everything that we need. And of course, NATO's
   strategy when dealing with Russia is a twin-track approach. It's
   showing strength and being prepared to enact our collective defense.
   But it's dialogue, at the same time. So, we, like everybody else, await
   the outcomes of what happens in Helsinki."

   The Helsinki summit is being viewed with considerable nervousness in
   Tallinn, two hours by ferry from the Finnish capital.

   "Because there is always the element of unpredictability there, the
   monopoly of which belonged some time ago to Putin, but now it certainly
   belongs to Trump. The Russian expectations could be higher than from
   the American side. Surely they are expecting a propaganda victory,"
   said Kalev Stoicescu of Estonia's International Center For Defense and
   Security.

   President Trump said the Helsinki summit could reset relations with
   Moscow. Just across the Baltic Sea, NATO troops are sending a clear
   message: The alliance is prepared for any outcome.